Windsor Spitfires 2016-17 Season Thread (Part 5)

[randomhero4life]

When Windsor went to the Memorial Cups, they used a mixture of size and scoring to win the titles. Sure, they had guys like Hall, Henrique, and Wellwood, who were around the 6' mark with speed, but they also had guys like Greenop, MacDermid, and Young, who were 6'4. If you're smaller, you risk the run of being both intimidated and physically dominated by larger teams. If you're bigger, speed will eventually catch up to you.

Yes, OS has some smaller guys, but they also have guys like Schmalz (6'6), Gadjovich (6'2), Friend (6'2), and Cordell (6'2). It's a mixture and a proven formula.

Look at Erie - Strome (6'3), Pettit (6'4), Raddysh (6'2), Foegele (6'2), Cernak (6'3), Sambrook (6'2). They're going to beat you offensively but they can sure wear a team down with their size.

Going small isn't the answer. Going big isn't the answer. From what we've seen, a mixture seems pretty close to ideal.

I think the bigger forward trend started back in the day with Eric Lindros. Back in 1990 there were not a lot of forwards that were 6'3-6'6, 220 lbs -and up. Lindros was the new breed in terms of scouting, {big guy with big #'s) Size was always a plus when drafting defensemen, a lot of 1st rounder's back then were big defencemen (Darian Hatcher, Chris Pronger etc.) That trend continues today, but even bigger players being selected. Logan Stanley is the perfect example of what scouts are looking for in a defensemen, but all these guys like Big Stan all need to work on the skating abilities. Size just does not cut it anymore in today's NHL. The game has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. Martin St. Louis is a great example, went undrafted due to his size, was a walk on invite. His career totals speak for themself. Showed that NHL scouts were wrong, they changed their scouting standards. in 2017 I believe size really is still the deciding factor, but just goes to show there are a lot of smaller players that can still crack the pro's. Teams scout for the perfect combination of size and skill, Villardi is a great example, 6'3 ,195 lbs, and he is 17.

 

[ohloutsider]

I think the bigger forward trend started back in the day with Eric Lindros. Back in 1990 there were not a lot of forwards that were 6'3-6'6, 220 lbs -and up. Lindros was the new breed in terms of scouting, {big guy with big #'s) Size was always a plus when drafting defensemen, a lot of 1st rounder's back then were big defencemen (Darian Hatcher, Chris Pronger etc.) That trend continues today, but even bigger players being selected. Logan Stanley is the perfect example of what scouts are looking for in a defensemen, but all these guys like Big Stan all need to work on the skating abilities. Size just does not cut it anymore in today's NHL. The game has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. Martin St. Louis is a great example, went undrafted due to his size, was a walk on invite. His career totals speak for themself. Showed that NHL scouts were wrong, they changed their scouting standards. in 2017 I believe size really is just a number, teams scout for a perfect mix of size and teams work more with the players on fitness, and work ethic.

Size is the deciding factor when all else is equal - guy 5'11" gets 20 goals - 20 assists and and a guy 6' 4" gets 20 goals 20 assists and skates as fast as the other guy, the guy 6' 4" gets drafted first.

 

[randomhero4life]

Size is the deciding factor when all else is equal - guy 5'11" gets 20 goals - 20 assists and and a guy 6' 4" gets 20 goals 20 assists and skates as fast as the other guy, the guy 6' 4" gets drafted first.

I totally agree with you, but in the last few years average size players have been putting up some impressive numbers with a lot of help from larger teammates, the mixed ratio still stands true in today's game.

 

[OHLTG]

4-1 win tonight against Saginaw.

Good:

- Luchuk and Vilardi multipoint games. Knott and Laishram with nice goals, too.
- Complete domination of Saginaw in the first and third periods.
- High-energy game right out of the gate, which was nice to see.
- I enjoyed the "Country Night" theme.
- 17 shots against is a nice number.

Bad:

- I'm sure DiPietro would love the opening goal back. That said, he played very well the rest of the way.
- Windsor seemed to take Saginaw for granted a bit in the second. Shots were much closer than they needed to be.
- Still not enough shots on the PP. They have the passing game down, but passing doesn't put the puck in the net.
- 27 shots is respectable...but not when you have 17 in the first period. 10 shots in the last two periods, combined, won't do much.

It felt a bit like a "we have this" and I don't know that any team should be doing that at this point in the season. It's great to get the win because you know Saginaw needed the points just as badly as we did. They weren't going to just hand them to us.

Windsor still sits a point behind OS for fourth and a point behind SSM fo second.

Interesting note: The top five teams in the West have combined for 21-straight regulation wins. Erie has the most with 14-straight and Windsor is second with three-straight.

 

[go4john]

The city is definitely not feeling it. Country Night and buy one get one free promotion and only 4756 in the house? Not good.

 

[h10*]

Interesting note: The top five teams in the West have combined for 21-straight regulation wins. Erie has the most with 14-straight and Windsor is second with three-straight.

So in other words the other 4 teams have a combined 7 game winning streak? Lol, that's not anything of note at all.
It's like saying Vilardi and McCool have a combined 29 goals. Well actually Vilardi has 24 and is doing all the work when it comes to goals. Erie is the only one that has a significant win streak, don't lump them with the rest of the West right now for streaks

2-4 games in a row are nice. But every team has them. Even Guelph and Niagara have 3 game streaks. Heck Kingston and Ottawa have 4 game streaks this year. Only Sudbury and Barrie don't have more than a 2 game streak. But that leaves 18 of 20 that have 3 or more game winning streaks at some point this year.

 

[hockeylegend11]

Spits with the 4-1 win over Saginaw,are 3-0-0-1 in the last 4 games,7-2-0-1 in the last 10, and for a team that can't score, has 43 goals in the 10 game. stretch for average of 4.30.
Spits are now 23-3-1 at home for the season.
Spits in the last 3 games have outscored the opposition 13-5,and have outshot the same opposition
100-58, pretty impressive in my view.Not averaging 20 shots per game against is a recipe for
success.
As for the game as mentioned Spits were by far the better team in the 1st and the 3rd,and in most games if you are the better team 40 minutes out of 60, a team usually wins.
Strong efforts from Vilardi, Luchuk, Laishram,Knott, except for his misconduct penalty, Sergachev, McCool played well in his return, Robertson was fine overall,showed a bit of rust, not concerning.
Nattinen continues to struggle,Brown, Bracco wound up pointless Spits still won,shows lineup depth.
Will be interesting in London tomorrow,I imagine they would go with the same lineup.Both teams will be missing players recently suspended, Digiacinto and Jones
Knights dangerous team,no reason for Windsor to take things lately, every point vital, need to play with some semblance of controlled desperation to win.

 

[Irishguy42]

How has Day looked?

 

[OHLTG]

The city is definitely not feeling it. Country Night and buy one get one free promotion and only 4756 in the house? Not good.

One thing that can't be overlooked is the weather. When it's 60F outside and sunny, people talk about being outside and enjoying the weather. Hockey is the last thing on their mind. If it was 20F and snowing, you'd see a better crowd.

So in other words the other 4 teams have a combined 7 game winning streak? Lol, that's not anything of note at all.

The point was more that the top teams are all winning and maintining their positions.

Irishguy - depends on who you ask. He's not providing much offence (around 0.5 points-per-game) but he's fairly reliable all around the ice. He's prone to making defensive mistakes, which frustrate the fans, but you can tell he has the potential in him.

 

[scokan]

4-1 win tonight against Saginaw.

Good:

- Luchuk and Vilardi multipoint games. Knott and Laishram with nice goals, too.
- Complete domination of Saginaw in the first and third periods.
- High-energy game right out of the gate, which was nice to see.
- I enjoyed the "Country Night" theme.
- 17 shots against is a nice number.

Bad:

- I'm sure DiPietro would love the opening goal back. That said, he played very well the rest of the way.
- Windsor seemed to take Saginaw for granted a bit in the second. Shots were much closer than they needed to be.
- Still not enough shots on the PP. They have the passing game down, but passing doesn't put the puck in the net.
- 27 shots is respectable...but not when you have 17 in the first period. 10 shots in the last two periods, combined, won't do much.

It felt a bit like a "we have this" and I don't know that any team should be doing that at this point in the season. It's great to get the win because you know Saginaw needed the points just as badly as we did. They weren't going to just hand them to us.

I wouldnt really say they dominated the third period since they only had 6 shots on net, more like they capitalized on there chances by scoring the two goals - one via the breakaway goal from Knott.
thought MD had a pretty easy night, the seeing eye shot from the blue line kinda handcuffed him but if he remained standing on the shot prob would have hit him in the chest, def would have liked that one back.
Seemed like another case of the spits doing enough against a lower ranked team, came out flying with lots of chances, then once they got the lead in typical fashion sat back and nursed it without taking too many offensive chances.
thought that we would have seen Culina in net against a 9th ranked team given we are playing in london on the back end of the b2b, with that being said how many games do you think Culina starts the rest of the way? maybe 1 or 2?
hopefully the spits can pull off a win tonight in London they will have there hands full

 

[windsor7]

Windsor wins 4 to 1.

Nice to see a few players get points who haven't in a long time.

Attendance horrible.
Even with promotion nite, 4700 people who bought tix. Not in the actual arena, might of been 4300.

Having only 10 or 11 shots TOTAL for 2 periods will NOT get it done.
They are lucky that they were playing an opponent that was much lower in the standings. This will come to haunt Windsor.

Boring style of hockey.
That has to be one reason fans don't come out. You can go away from the game and come back 5 min later and not miss much at all.
Fans are asleep and they don't care to watch this style and the fans will keep away.
Next year will be even worse as the little fans that joined the bandwagon will fall off next year when there is no memorial cup coming their way. Enjoy the empty seats Windsor.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Windsor wins 4 to 1.

Nice to see a few players get points who haven't in a long time.

Attendance horrible.
Even with promotion nite, 4700 people who bought tix. Not in the actual arena, might of been 4300.

Having only 10 or 11 shots TOTAL for 2 periods will NOT get it done.
They are lucky that they were playing an opponent that was much lower in the standings. This will come to haunt Windsor.

Boring style of hockey.
That has to be one reason fans don't come out. You can go away from the game and come back 5 min later and not miss much at all.
Fans are asleep and they don't care to watch this style and the fans will keep away.
Next year will be even worse as the little fans that joined the bandwagon will fall off next year when there is no memorial cup coming their way. Enjoy the empty seats Windsor.

I think the organization thought the Memorial Cup name was going to sell itself this year after having small attendance for much of the past few years.

It was nice to see them win but they really do seem to sleepwalk through the game for extended periods which is hard to understand at this point.

 

[ohloutsider]

A couple of notes from last night - Don't usually give the 3 star selections much credit but last night I was glad to see Luchuk get the 1st star - they actually agreed with me for once - though he had one of his better games last night - strong on the PK.
What's the history between Hodgson and Sergachev? Hodgson took at least 3 serious runs at Sergachev last night - he only landed one but one where he missed would have been a 5 for charging with the way he left the ice to hit him, but Sergachev stepped aside hence no hit. He seemed to be on a mission to get Sergachev?
Rocky had Nattinen on the first line last night, I'm assuming he is trying to get him going again - did not work - first line was ineffective with him there - I think that will be changed up tonight - Addison will likely draw back into the first line.
Knott has found some new energy - looks good with whoever he is playing with.
Tonight will require a full 60 minutes with some puck luck thrown in.

 

[tomschman]

A couple of notes from last night - Don't usually give the 3 star selections much credit but last night I was glad to see Luchuk get the 1st star - they actually agreed with me for once - though he had one of his better games last night - strong on the PK.
What's the history between Hodgson and Sergachev? Hodgson took at least 3 serious runs at Sergachev last night - he only landed one but one where he missed would have been a 5 for charging with the way he left the ice to hit him, but Sergachev stepped aside hence no hit. He seemed to be on a mission to get Sergachev?
Rocky had Nattinen on the first line last night, I'm assuming he is trying to get him going again - did not work - first line was ineffective with him there - I think that will be changed up tonight - Addison will likely draw back into the first line.
Knott has found some new energy - looks good with whoever he is playing with.
Tonight will require a full 60 minutes with some puck luck thrown in.

Maybe Nattinen should be on the 4th line, whomever he is playing with becomes ineffective. I know he has talent, but he is showing nothing.

 

[tomschman]

I think the organization thought the Memorial Cup name was going to sell itself this year after having small attendance for much of the past few years.

It was nice to see them win but they really do seem to sleepwalk through the game for extended periods which is hard to understand at this point.

I agree that the attendance is very disappointing. However, the Spits are 4th in the league in average attendance behind London, Kitchener and Oshawa. The are slightly ahead of Niagara, which has a capacity that is 1,200 less than the WFCU and have a team that is fighting to make the playoffs.

The overall average attendance is down about 100 per game league wide. For a 680 game schedule that is a loss of about 68,000 paying customers. I doesn't seem to be just a Windsor problem. Windsor is running slightly ahead of last year. They should be running way ahead of last year. Surprisingly, The Soo is averaging about 300 less than last year.

 

[sbpointer]

It might be a cost thing league wide. I know when I take my daughter to a game at Bud Gardens it is close to a $100 night after we get tickets, parking popcorn and pop. If I had more than one child it wouldn't be economical to do too often.

 

[Buttsy]

In places like Windsor.......that expect hockey to be played a certain way.

Windsor fan's like a tough and gritty brand of hockey, when they don't get what they expect ....they rebel and stay home on their couch to watch it or ignore it completely.Were not that far removed from the Barn days, that type of hockey is ingrained here.Its in our psyche.It's ingrained in our owners Bougie and Rychel.That's the way they played.Alot of STH like myself wont be back.I wont pay top prices to watch a sloppy version of shinny.

Sorry if I didnt explain myself more clearly.

Gotcha thanks for the clarification.

 

[go4john]

In places like Windsor.......that expect hockey to be played a certain way.

Windsor fan's like a tough and gritty brand of hockey, when they don't get what they expect ....they rebel and stay home on their couch to watch it or ignore it completely.Were not that far removed from the Barn days, that type of hockey is ingrained here.Its in our psyche.It's ingrained in our owners Bougie and Rychel.That's the way they played.Alot of STH like myself wont be back.I wont pay top prices to watch a sloppy version of shinny.

Sorry if I didnt explain myself more clearly.

Agree 100%, that's one of the main reasons I'm out after this year.

 

[scokan]

I agree with the statement that the organization thought that the fans would show in droves because of the memorial cup novelty however I think with the new seating structure they put in place (shows it didnt really work), the in season promotions for tickets (that kind off stick it to the STH who pay for everything up front) as well as the treatment that some of the STH received from the Memorial Cup ticket fiasco, with alot of them having to move seats and not even given a chance to sit in there seat, I can see many being not to thrilled about it. Next year will definitely be a eye opener in terms of how this team will eventually look as well as attendance.

 

[OHLTG]

I'm curious (legitimately) - how many STH had to move seats for the Memorial Cup? I've talked to a bunch of people so far and none of them have had to, myself included.

Anyway...

4-1 London tonight.

Windsor had 20ish shots in the 3p, but 17 first two periods combined.

DiPietro played well. Two goals came on breakaways, one was an EN.

Windsor didn't play poorly but they refuse to shoot the puck until it's too late. You won't win games by taking 17 shots in 40 min.

The way she goes...

Get ready for Sarnia on Sunday. BTW, SSM won so they're three points up.

The good news - seven of our final 10 are at home, where we are 23-3. The three on the road are in sarnia (x2) and Saginaw, all of which are winnable. This is still quite doable.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I'm curious (legitimately) - how many STH had to move seats for the Memorial Cup? I've talked to a bunch of people so far and none of them have had to, myself included.

Anyway...

4-1 London tonight.

Windsor had 20ish shots in the 3p, but 17 first two periods combined.

DiPietro played well. Two goals came on breakaways, one was an EN.

Windsor didn't play poorly but they refuse to shoot the puck until it's too late. You won't win games by taking 17 shots in 40 min.

The way she goes...

Get ready for Sarnia on Sunday. BTW, SSM won so they're three points up.

The good news - seven of our final 10 are at home, where we are 23-3. The three on the road are in sarnia (x2) and Saginaw, all of which are winnable. This is still quite doable.

Time is really running out even if the Soo went a modest 6-4 and loss all 4 of those in regulation the Spits would need to go 8-2 with wins most likely against London/Soo/OS/Erie. In other words most likely the Memorial Cup hosts will not have home ice.

 

[windsor7]

I'm curious (legitimately) - how many STH had to move seats for the Memorial Cup? I've talked to a bunch of people so far and none of them have had to, myself included.

Anyway...

4-1 London tonight.

Windsor had 20ish shots in the 3p, but 17 first two periods combined.

DiPietro played well. Two goals came on breakaways, one was an EN.

Windsor didn't play poorly but they refuse to shoot the puck until it's too late. You won't win games by taking 17 shots in 40 min.

The way she goes...

Get ready for Sarnia on Sunday. BTW, SSM won so they're three points up.

The good news - seven of our final 10 are at home, where we are 23-3. The three on the road are in sarnia (x2) and Saginaw, all of which are winnable. This is still quite doable.

Try talking to more sth. A lot got moved for the Memorial Cup. Most that got moved got moved to the opposite sides of the arena. Just a big inconvenience to us. But they gave away parking passes for the Memorial Cup. Then again u have to fight with the parking situation at the arena. That was a big fu## up when they built the arena.

 

[tomschman]

I'm curious (legitimately) - how many STH had to move seats for the Memorial Cup? I've talked to a bunch of people so far and none of them have had to, myself included.

Anyway...

4-1 London tonight.

Windsor had 20ish shots in the 3p, but 17 first two periods combined.

DiPietro played well. Two goals came on breakaways, one was an EN.

Windsor didn't play poorly but they refuse to shoot the puck until it's too late. You won't win games by taking 17 shots in 40 min.

The way she goes...

Get ready for Sarnia on Sunday. BTW, SSM won so they're three points up.

The good news - seven of our final 10 are at home, where we are 23-3. The three on the road are in sarnia (x2) and Saginaw, all of which are winnable. This is still quite doable.

I had to move. I am in Sec. 101 Row E and were given Sec. 102 Row F. As compensation, I get parking passes.

 

[OHLTG]

Time is really running out even if the Soo went a modest 6-4 and loss all 4 of those in regulation the Spits would need to go 8-2 with wins most likely against London/Soo/OS/Erie. In other words most likely the Memorial Cup hosts will not have home ice.

Win the games and see where the chips fall. We can't deny that this is an incredibly tough conference this year. Fifth place is not a normal "fifth place." I still have faith that second or fourth isn't out of the question.

 

[scokan]

I'm curious (legitimately) - how many STH had to move seats for the Memorial Cup? I've talked to a bunch of people so far and none of them have had to, myself included.

talk to sth who have prime seats, end zone seats are not really coveted seats to the league. the chl took over seats up to row J I believe and moved them sections over or even on the other side of the arena.
and just because it didnt happen to you or the minimal amount of people you have talked to doesnt mean its not happening